Buddha of Compassion

Today Chèvrefeuille has chosen one of the temples on Shikoku Island to inspire us. It is named Ryuko-ji and is devoted to the Buddha of Compassion. Compassion is one of the main ideas of Buddhism and, according to Chèvrefeuille, ‘wordlessness’ one of the pillars of haiku: with three lines, approximately 17 syllables and around 15 or 20 words, it’s a very short poem in which the strength lies in describing a scene without words. He goes on to say that he considers experimental haiku to be the best example of wordlessness in haiku.